Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. empty of, lacking in.

1865

Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 9/1: The ‘drum’ was pretty well ‘skinned’ of ‘cross-blokes,’ owing to the races.

2. comprehensively beaten, utterly defeated.

1871		E. Eggleston Hoosier School-Master (1892) 164: You see I was bound to come ef I got skinned. For Mr. Pearson’s stuck to me and I mean to stick to him.
1897		Ade Pink Marsh (1963) 133: When it come to tossin’ lang’age ol’ Gawge sutny had me skinned.
1908		H. Green Maison De Shine 14: I’m goin’ to bring some meat of my own. An’ it’ll have yours skinned a block. See if it don’t.
1908		B. Fisher A. Mutt in Blackbeard Compilation (1977) 76: This midnight sun is the bunk. Fillmore Street has it skinned to death for illumination.
1913–14		E. O’Neill The Web in Ten ‘Lost’ Plays (1995) 62: Gee, I thought I was in bad, but yuh got me skinned to death.
1918		D.G. Rowse Doughboy Dope 81: The guy that has them all skinned admits that he never writes home to his folks unless they send him the postage.
1929		B. De Beck Barney Google [comic strip] The stock yards in Chicago’s got anything I’ve seen here skinned a mile.
c.1939		B. Bennett ‘Sobstuff Sister’ in Billy Bennett’s Third Budget 20: Sal’s got Garbo skinned to the eyebrows / She got Mae West skinned to the hips.

3. (also skinned out) deprived of one’s money, esp. after gambling unsuccessfully.

1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor II 71/2: The seafaring owner of these really magnificent birds, perhaps, squanders his money, perhaps he gets ‘skinned’ (stripped of his clothes and money from being hocussed).
1875		J.H. Warren Crying Shame of NY 294: We confess to no large amount of sympathy for the victim who walks into one of these hells voluntarily, with eyes wide open as to their character, and comes out ‘skinned’.
1889		Referee 2 June n.p.: They had [...] gone over the landlord, left him skinned, and the furniture smashed [F&H].
1890		Dead Bird (Sydney) 20 Sept. 5/1: ‘I don’t part more than a bob each for a tram. I’ll be skinned afore I get into the enclosure if I do’.
1891		J.A. Riis How the Other Half Lives 32: Do you want me to build and get skinned, skinned?
1905		Marvel III:55 4: I’m broke – clean skinned out!
1907		R. Service ‘The Spell of the Yukon’ in Songs of a Sourdough 17: They’re making my money diminish; / I’m sick of the taste of champagne. / Thank God! when I’m skinned to a finish / I’ll pike to the Yukon again.
1913		J. London Valley of the Moon (1914) 174: We’re the white folks that lost out. We’re the ones that’s ben skinned.
1925		Wodehouse Carry on, Jeeves 6: Easby wasn’t one of those country houses [...] where young girls are lured on to play baccarat and then skinned to the bone of their jewellery.
1933		‘Goat’ Laven Rough Stuff 64: I tried my luck at poker, and as usual after playing all night, I was close to being skinned.
1947		J. Maclaren-Ross Of Love And Hunger 130: You’ll have to pay. I’m skinned.
1959		D. Niland Gold in the Streets (1966) 201: I’m flat. A hundred and fifty quid, just done the lot. I’m skinned out.
1975		‘P.B. Yuill’ Hazell and the Three-card Trick (1977) 10: Mugs get skinned there [i.e. Oxford Street] on the hour. The pavements are very hard.
1981		S. McAughtry Belfast 151: He’d been to the Maze racing to do clerking for a small-time bookie [...] They ended up skinned.
1994		(con. 1920s–30s) K.C. Kearns Dublin Tenement Life 214: There was money-lenders everywhere and they had the place skinned. Yes, ‘skinned’.

4. (orig. Aus., also skinned out) totally bereft.

1955		D. Niland Shiralee 137: We’re skinned out.
1957		C. MacInnes City of Spades (1964) 81: You’re new to London, and your Dad has loot to send you, don’t forget. Wait till you’re skinned like I was, an then see.
1963		B. Crump ‘One of Us’ in Best of Barry Crump (1974) 141: We’ll have to give him a try – we’re skinned!